


Surviving Greenberg

by QS_Love



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:11:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QS_Love/pseuds/QS_Love
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared lives through puking on the bus, tales of bad tacos and smashed possums, and a night with Greenberg in a roach motel to win the girl of his dreams with the help of everybody's favorite goalie and his kind of scary boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surviving Greenberg

**Author's Note:**

> I asked for Dethan prompts and Anonymous #1 sent me this: "Prompt: Ummm… Maybe… Danny’s the one to go and save Ethan from nearly cutting himself open and not Stiles?"
> 
> I thought it would be interesting to see how Ethan might have reacted if, when he came out of his hallucination, he ‘woke up’ to a friendly, trusted face instead of to Scott’s pack staring down at him while he was in this really vulnerable state. For some reason, poor carsick Jared wanted to tell the story and this was the result.

~*~*~

“You’ll be pairing up. Choose wisely.” Coach Finstock extended a hand full of keys.

Jared looked around for someone to share a room with. He was still queasy as hell and he just wanted a nice, quiet roommate who wouldn’t make him hurl. He would sleep on the now-still bus before he’d share a room with someone like Stilinski. Stiles would be rooming with McCall anyway, of course, so it was a moot point but it was the principle of the thing: no Stilinski-like roomie.

He glanced over at Danny. When they were in 7th grade, their youth legislature club had taken a trip to D.C. – toured the White House and everything – and Jared had been assigned Danny as a roommate and tour buddy. Danny had been quiet, polite, clean, and neat. He seemed like an excellent choice and now that Jackson had moved away, he might even be roommate-less for this trip.

Jared was opening his mouth to ask Danny if he wanted to share, when he saw it – Danny and the new guy, Ethan (or was it Aiden? Jared wasn’t sure), turned to each other and smiled and then Danny grabbed a key from Coach. Figured. They’d shared a bus seat, so Jared should’ve known that they’d be sharing a room. As they walked away, Jared saw the new guy’s hand go to Danny’s back and rub a little at the dip there at the base of Danny’s spine.

Uh huh. Jared would bet that Danny was getting more than just a roommate tonight, that lucky fuck. On the bus ride from hell, Danny had somehow managed to find a potential boyfriend to room with while Jared would probably get stuck with…..

“Hey, Jared, looks like it’s your lucky day, man.” Jared felt a hearty and somewhat painful slap on his back. “You get me!”

…..Greenberg.

Awesome.

~*~*~

Once inside the motel room, Jared flopped down on the bed, tried to ignore the musty, funky smell, and hoped like hell he didn’t get eaten by bed bugs. Closing his eyes, he willed the room to stop spinning. Greenberg was talking nonstop but Jared was trying his best to tune him out because when he let his brain go online long enough to make sense of Greenberg’s noise, he heard things like, “Maybe you weren’t even carsick, ever think of that? Like, maybe you have food poisoning or something. That taco place Coach stopped at for lunch looked pretty skeevy, you know? There was a dead, squished fly stuck to the table and I’m pretty sure the meat in my burrito had green spots and it didn’t taste like quacamole, but…”

Jared clapped his hand over his mouth. “I need some fresh air,” he muttered while bolting from the room. He stood outside the door and took a deep breath and the nausea eased a little.

He heard voices and soft laughter and from around the corner, Danny and the new guy appeared. The breeze blew the light, clean scent of Danny’s cologne Jared’s way and the nausea eased a little more. As they got closer, Jared could hear them talking.

“You probably snore,” Danny was saying.

“I do _not_ snore.”

“But how would you even _know_? If you’re asleep, you can’t know that you don’t snore.”

“Hello? Twin, remember? If I snored, Aiden would let me know, believe me.” So this one was Ethan then, Jared thought. Ethan laughed and threw his arm around Danny’s neck, pulling him close and planting a loud, smacking kiss to Danny’s temple. “Why is it so important to you to believe that I snore?”

Jared watched as Danny gave Ethan a _look_ , a sly little smile along with a sideways glance from under his long eyelashes. “Because you can’t be _perfect_.”

Nice one, Jared thought. That was fucking _smooth_. He thought wistfully of how he’d wanted to try to get to know Trina Gresson on this trip (she was the reason he’d joined the track team in the first place) and how he’d imagined himself being this smooth and charming with her. On the bus, he’d almost worked up the nerve to go talk to her before the nausea had kicked in. He would have to remember this one and see if he couldn’t work it in somehow next time he got the chance.

Danny looked up and nodded at Jared. “Hey, Jared, feeling better?”

“Yeah. Well, I _was_ , anyway.” He tilted his head in the direction of his room and added, simply, “Greenberg.”

Danny winced. “You gotta be tough with Greenberg, Jared. Do like Coach does and just tell him to shut the hell up.” At Jared’s shrug, Danny added, “You want me to talk to him for you?” He gave Jared a quick grin. “Maybe threaten him a little?”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Jared said quickly. He didn’t want to be _that_ guy. The cockblock. He looked down at the ice bucket in Danny’s hand and figured that both Danny and Ethan just wanted to get their ice and get back to their room and whatever they had planned for the night. Besides, if Danny went in to talk to Greenberg that would leave Jared standing out here alone with Ethan, and honestly? The guy (and his brother) scared Jared a little. They’d never done anything, directly, to him, but in the short time they’d been at BHHS, they’d already been involved in several fights. They made Jared uneasy.

“You sure?” Danny asked, and reached out to give Jared’s shoulder a little squeeze.

“Nah, I’m good.” Jared glanced at Ethan a little nervously, but the guy wasn’t even looking at him. He was staring at Danny with this expression – this not scary at all – expression on his face. His face was soft and a little… amused, really. It reminded Jared of the way his mom looked at their new kitten when it was laying on the kitchen table, trying to stay awake, but losing the battle, it’s head plunking on the hard wood, and it was so fucking cute that his mom couldn’t punish it for _being_ on the table; just scooped it up and put it in its bed in the corner of the living room, so it wouldn’t accidentally get trampled in the dinnertime rush of five starving people trying to get to the kitchen.

Interesting. Maybe the guy wasn’t as badass as Jared thought. And yet, he still had a feeling that if Ethan knew Jared was comparing him, in his mind, to his mother looking at a kitten, Jared might get his ass kicked.

After they left, Jared took a deep breath and went back in the room. He couldn’t stand out here all night and he might as well try Danny’s ‘be tough’ approach with Greenberg now. Better sooner than later.

He flopped back down on the bed and tried to look like he was asleep, but that didn’t stop Greenberg’s chatter. Jared had had to tell Greenberg to shut the hell up three times (okay, _why_ would you tell a guy who’d recently thrown up about the time you hit a possum with your car and how you’d been scraping pink guts out of the tire treads for a week after?) and he’d had to threaten to go get Coach twice (trying to crack open the back of the TV to get to the "porn switch" was not only stupid, it was dangerous) when they heard a soft knock on the door. Jared opened it to find Danny standing there with a can of Sprite in his hand. He held it out to Jared.

“My mom always says it helps with, you know, a queasy stomach. There’s a drink machine around the corner from the ice machine, if you need more later.”

Jared took the can gratefully. “Thanks, Danny. Thanks a lot.” He glanced at Ethan again, but just like before, Ethan only had eyes for Danny and right now, his eyes were saying, ‘ _Fuck, but this kitten is cute. Look at how sweet and fluffy and adorable it is._ ’

Danny glanced into the room, pointed a finger at Greenberg, and said, “Greenberg. Whatever the hell you’re doing, stop.”

“What?” Greenberg had a wounded look on his face. “I’m not doing anything.”

“And shut up. Just… go to sleep or something,” Danny added, channeling Coach so well that Jared thought Danny might want to consider a career as a high school teacher and lacrosse coach. Or not, considering that the little reprimand he gave Greenberg only helped for about thirty seconds after Danny and Ethan left before Greenberg was off and running again.

"Hey. Hey Jared," Greenberg said. "What do you think _they're_ going to do right now, huh? Somebody's getting boned tonight, amirite?"

Jared gave Greenberg a blank stare. Well, at least he wasn't talking about spoiled taco meat or how the bathroom smelled like toe cheese. Danny would forgive him for a little gossip under the circumstances, Jared figured.

"Yeah, they seem pretty.... close," Jared admitted.

"Pretty _close_?" Greenberg snorted. "Somebody's dick is going into somebody's mouth -- or butt, probably both -- in _that_ room tonight. Just sayin'."

"Greenberg?" Jared sighed, toeing off his shoes and letting them hit the floor with a thunk. "Shut the hell up," he said for the fourth time tonight, but Greenberg didn't seem to notice.

"Now the question is, whose dick in whose butt? Like, Danny's a big guy and he's pretty buff so seems like he'll do the poking, right?" When Jared just fell back on the bed, closed his eyes, and sighed again, Greenberg steamrolled ahead with his now one-sided conversation. "But that Ethan guy is pretty big too and, I don't know man, he's kind of hardcore, you know? I mean, Lahey beat the shit out of him a couple times now, but I heard that..."

Greenberg's idiotic rambling got indistinct and suddenly seemed really far away. It was a lot easier to ignore the guy when he was talking shit about someone else's love life than when he was discussing greasy, tainted fast food and possum guts. Jared didn't even realize he'd drifted off to sleep, didn't know how long he'd been out, when he was startled awake by slamming doors, shouting voices, and the sound of first one, then a second person running past the room. He sat up and looked over at Greenberg who was big-eyed. When they heard a voice -- Danny's -- yell, "Ethan!" they shared another look.

“Ohhhh maaannn,” Greenberg drawled. “Maybe Danny has, like, a huge dick or something and that shit _hurt_ and now…”

“Shut _up_ , Greenberg,” Jared snapped. There was a strange noise from somewhere nearby – almost sounded like a power saw, what the _hell_ \-- then they heard Danny’s voice again, loud and panicked now.

“Oh my god, Ethan, no. _Stop_.” There was a horrible crashing noise, then another, and another, this one followed by a loud cry of pain – Ethan’s -- and then the night was suddenly dead silent. With one last shocked look at Greenberg, Jared grabbed his shoes and shoved his feet down into them.

Outside, it wasn’t hard to figure out where the commotion was coming from. Two rooms down, the door was wide open and a bright light – much brighter than the light from the ratty little lamps in the rooms – was spilling out. Jared peeked in cautiously.

If he'd thought Ethan looked less intimidating than usual before with Danny, that was nothing compared to now. Sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, surrounded by construction equipment, scaffolding, and an overturned heater, Ethan seemed small, curled in on himself and clutching the front of Danny’s open track jacket. He looked confused and frightened as he repeated, “Danny, Danny,” over and over. As Jared watched, Danny pulled Ethan upright and looked him over carefully. Ethan still seemed to be in a state of shock as he stared, huge-eyed, at Danny. Now he was repeating, “I don’t know what happened, what happened? Danny, what happened?” in a voice that shook and cracked.

Danny ran his hands down Ethan’s chest, his arms, and when he pulled his hand back there was blood on his fingers. “Ethan, your arm.” He leaned down and took a closer look, cradling Ethan’s arm in his hands.

Ethan seemed to come back to himself a little at that, pulling his arm free. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Just a scratch.” Danny pulled him into a hug and over Ethan’s shoulder his eyes, confused and sad, met Jared’s.

“Danny,” Jared said, quietly. “You want me to get Coach? I should get someone.”

Danny gave a little nod, but Ethan pulled away quickly and said, “No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, man?” Jared asked, gently. “Are you sure you’re okay now?” If this guy was tripping on something and hurt himself or Danny, Jared would never forgive himself for not getting help.

And then Ethan turned and for the first time that night -- maybe the first time _ever_ \-- looked directly at Jared, and while his expression wasn’t as gentle and as good-natured as when he looked at Danny, it wasn’t scary either. He mostly just looked confused and a little lost when he said, “I’m okay now, I’m sure.” He hesitated, and then added, “But thanks, man,” stumbling a little on the words and Jared got the feeling it wasn’t something he said very often.

Danny stood then and pulled Ethan up. Jared knew that Danny was still pretty shook up when he gave Ethan another once-over, checking to make sure he really was okay. Then, as Jared watched, Danny leaned in and pressed his forehead to Ethan’s, nuzzling against Ethan’s face. He gave Ethan a quick kiss, and Jared heard him mumble, “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

Feeling like an intruder, Jared said, “Okay, I’m gonna go now,” and turned to go when Ethan called out to him.

“Hey, Jared? Don’t… please don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

Jared looked at Danny who gave an unsure little shrug.

“Okay,” Jared agreed. “I won’t. Just... okay.” Jared felt like he should say something else, but this was the weirdest situation he’d ever found himself in and the proper etiquette his mom had tried to teach him didn’t come close to covering this one. He finally decided on, “Take care, okay?” and Ethan gave him that same look as before, confused and wondering and a little like Jared was a puzzle piece that wasn’t fitting into the last empty hole in the jigsaw.

As Jared turned to leave the room, he heard Danny whisper, “We have to talk about this, Ethan,” and heard Ethan answer, “I know. We will.”

Outside the room, Jared bumped into Greenberg, who had apparently been standing out there looking in the window the whole time. In a night full of surprises, this was the biggest. Jared was pretty sure this was the longest Greenberg had ever been quiet in his life.

“So,” Greenberg began, breaking what could have been a record silence. “I’m thinking this didn’t have anything to do with Danny’s dick.”

Jared sighed.

~*~*~

The next morning Jared couldn’t wait to get out of this hell hole of a motel, and judging from how fast everyone was packing up their stuff and heading for the bus, he wasn’t the only one. He was pretty sure that the stench of mildew and stale cigarette smoke would be lingering in his nostrils for at least a week. Of course leaving meant another long, stomach churning bus ride.

Danny’s mom was right about Sprite settling a queasy stomach; the one Danny brought him last night had helped a lot. Remembering that Danny said there was a drink machine near the ice bin, Jared figured it wouldn’t hurt to get one for the road. But when he reached the vending machine, his stomach gave a little lurch and he hadn’t even gotten on the bus yet.

Trina Gresson. She was staring at the drink selection, a ponytail holder between her teeth, as she pulled her long, blonde hair up. Jared almost turned and left, but seriously, it was now or never. Besides, he _really_ wanted that Sprite.

“Hey, Trina,” he said, wiping his damp palms on his jeans.

“Oh, hey Jared.” She gave him a brief glance and went back to choosing her drink.

“Did you sleep okay?” he asked her, then cringed inwardly at how lame that was as a conversation starter.

“Hmm,” she said, not looking up as she fed her coins into the machine. “Not really. Not sure why, but when I woke up I felt more tired than when I went to bed.” She gave him a quick smile and held up her drink. “Nothing massive amounts of caffeine won’t fix.”

Jared remembered how effortless Danny had made flirting look. He could do this. He leaned against the machine and said, as smoothly as he could manage, “You probably snore.”

“ _Excuse_ me?” Trina’s face was shocked.

Oh shit. “I mean, I mean, because you’re perfect and you can’t be. Perfect. So…” Jared heard a snort of laughter behind him and he turned to see Ethan, with the biggest smile on his face Jared had seen yet, and Danny, who was biting his lip and fighting laughter. Ethan tilted his head back and sniffed a little, then gave Jared a wink and slipped his arm around Jared’s shoulders.

“This guy,” Ethan said, pointing to Jared, “likes you.” He sniffed again. “A _lot_.” Jared could feel his face burning. “He’s a good guy. You should give him a chance.” And then Ethan’s arm slipped away and he and Danny walked off towards the bus, hand in hand. This time, it was Danny looking at Ethan like Jared’s mom looked at their new kitten.

Jared looked down at his feet and scratched the back of his head. Okay, Ethan had just ruined his life. “Yeah, um, sorry about that,” he mumbled and hazarded a quick look up at Trina. She was smiling at him and her cheeks were a little pink. She started rummaging through her purse and her hand emerged with a package of Dramamine.

"Oh hey, by the way, I take one of these anytime I’m going on a long car ride. They help a lot. Want some?” She held out the package and Jared gratefully took a couple of the pills. As he put his money into the drink machine, she added, “Get Sprite. Sometimes it helps with a queasy stomach.”

Jared turned and gave her a bright smile. “Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

“You could sit with me, if you want,” Trina said. “You know, in case you need some more Dramamine.” At Jared’s eager nod, she added, “Besides, it’s always good for two people who get carsick to sit together, you know? Like, we know what to _not_ say to make it worse. Whatever you do, don’t sit with Greenberg.”

~*~*~

As they made their way onto the bus, they passed Ethan and Danny and Ethan gave Jared a little thumbs up. Jared grinned. For one of the two scariest guys at school, this Ethan guy wasn’t half bad.


End file.
